RE: [LA Times] Online Sellers See Unexpected Trend: Loyalty.

Tim Byars (tbyars@earthlink.net)
Tue, 15 Dec 1998 09:49:05 -0800


At 9:20 AM -0800 12/15/98, I Find Karma put forth the following:

[yada, yada, yada]

> Shopping is what we do; it's entertainment. Consumers are what we are;
> we go shopping for fun. We invented credit cards, suburban shopping
> malls, and day care just to make our consumerism more efficient. We
> sent our wives, husbands, children, and grandparents out to work, just
> to pay for all the stuff we wanted - needed - to buy.
> -- Robert X. Cringely, _Accidental Empires_

This is actually the most interesting thing here. Because what we have
happening as the new millennium approaches is some pretty interesting
changes in human behavior. Things like shopping malls, amusement parks,
parks in general for that matter, beaches, and so on exist because of a
basic human need for the "shared experience." The interesting thing we see
happening is humans seem to have less need for the "shared experience," or
it could be their getting it from things like chatrooms.

The same goes for sports. The idea of a "team sport" and win one for the
team is increasingly falling by the way side. Instead individual sports
like the X-Games and focus on individual players in a team sport, Michael
Jordon, Mark McGuire become increasingly the norm.

Tim

--

Happy Holidays! And the best of New Years...

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